Aspelmeyer: Figure 1a

Massive mechanical objects are now becoming available as new systems for quantum science. Quantum optics provides a powerful toolbox to generate, manipulate and detect quantum states of motion of such mechanical devices – from nanomechanical waveguides of some picogram to macroscopic, kilogram-weight mirrors of gravitational wave detectors. Recent experiments, including laser-cooling of micro- and nanomechanical resonators into their quantum ground state of motion, and demonstrations of the strong coupling regime provide the primary building blocks for full quantum optical control of mechanics, i.e. quantum optomechanics. This new frontier opens fascinating perspectives both for various applications and for unique tests of the foundations of quantum physics.